This invention relates to an improved pad of sealable-unsealable bags and of particular interest is a pad of such bags made of polymeric film material.
One species of polymeric film bag of the type contemplated herein is that packaged in a roll with each individual bag joined to the bottom or top of the next successive bag along a perforated line. Bags of this type also are formed individually and presented in a stack which is placed in a bag or box. Bags of this type may be individually removed from the roll or from the box. Access to the opening of the bag must, of course, be located in order to place an article of interest in the bag. For closure these bags employ twist ties, zipper-type fasteners, flip-over hood type cuffs or an adhesive stripe below the bag opening is employed to close the bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,502,599 issued to Perecman, discloses a collection of bags mounted on a rigid support card. The individual bags are stacked one upon the other, in registration, with the access region to the interior of the top most bag facing the user. An upper closure flap has exposed to the user an adhesive stripe extending across this flap. In use a packager would find access to the bag opening, but in placing the desired object in the bag, it will easily come into contact with the adhesive stripe. This type of arrangement is undesireable for the packaging of many items. For home use, where food products such as sandwiches, raw vegetables, fruit, and the like are bagged, the food will contact and adhere to the adhesive region of this type of bag. This not only interferes with the subsequent sealing of the bag flap but is a messy and unsanitary situation.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,715,493, issued to Vogt, describes a collection of bags entitled "chained enwrapments". This patent describes a collection of envelopes of the type having a front panel and a back panel wherein the back panel extends beyond the front panel. As is common practice, the envelopes or bags are closed at two opposite sides and also at the bottom. In the described collection of bags, the extended flap has an adhesive region across the surface which will become the inside surface of the closed and sealed envelope. This flap however is reverse folded backwards on itself and positioned so as to come into adhesive contact with the front panel of the next adjacent envelope. Thus, the adhesive on the flap extension of one envelope is placed in adhesive contact with the top of the non-adhesive bearing front panel of the next adjacent envelope. The purpose of this arrangement is so as to permit automatic or semi-automatic filling of the envelopes by placing the chained envelopes upright with the envelope bottom edges in contact with a planar surface. A plurality of the chained envelopes are simultaneously opened by pulling on the front panel of the first envelope. Since all envelopes are adhesively linked together, they will all open somewhat in the fashion of extending an accordion pleat. This will permit rapid filling of a plurality of these envelopes by permitting the envelopes to pass beneath a stream of commodity or material. The type of adhesive disclosed in this patent is of the type which needs to be activated to form the chained envelopes and then again after the envelopes have been filled in order to unseal envelopes from the chain and then again to seal the envelopes. It also must be of a type which will not cause adherence of the commodity to the adhesive during filling. Envelope collections of this type are impractical and have very limited utility.
U.S. Pat. 3,348,762 issued to Kasinkas discloses bag structure which is of the general type which is of interest in the instant invention but its specific structure and its presentation as a convolutely rolled package is not desirable. It also has specific structural limitations designed to maintain the adhesive portion of one bag out of contact with any succeeding bag while in the rolled condition. With this type of rolled package the user would withdraw one bag from the rolled package and sever it along perforation lines to separate it from the next bag. The suer then has bag which suffers from the same disadvantages as the structure defined in the aforementioned '599 patent. That is, once the bag is separated from the roll any food items which are attempted to be inserted into the bag are likely to come into contact with the adhesive surface resulting in a messy, unsanitary and imperfectly sealed structure.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a pad of bags not possessed of the shortcomings of the above identified prior art.
It is another object to the invention to provide a pad of bags which provides easy access to the interior of the first bay without contact to the sealing means during the process of bag filling.
A further object is to provide a pad of registered sandwich bags where each bay is in position to be filled while still a member of the pad.
Yet another object is to provide a pad of registered bags where each bag is releasably fixed in registration prior to use.
Still another object is to provide a method or loading, closing and sealing a bag.